I have no problem with Jennifer Garner; I speak as a woman who owns 13 Going on 30 and is an active follower of Violet Affleck’s lifestyle choices. She’s a personable actress, a beautiful woman, and seems to be a nice person. Know what she isn’t? Miss Marple.
Actually, she is. The initial reports were alarming enough:
Disney has made a deal to revive the Agatha Christie mystery series staple character Miss Marple, but with one big difference: instead of the elderly spinster who lives in the English village of St. Mary Mead and solves mysteries as a hobby, the new configuration is for Mark Frost to script a version where Marple is in her 30s or 40s.
And then came the horrifying confirmation.
Jennifer Garner will be the actress who puts a young spin on Miss Marple in Disney’s reboot of the Agatha Christie mystery series sleuth. The character had been portrayed by a long line of actresses who played Marple as an elderly spinster who cracked crimes in her spare time. Garner and her Vandalia Films partner Juliana Janes will produce a film that will be shaped as a star vehicle for Garner, the former Alias star who will next be seen in Arthur.
One word: why? Why take one of the few characters in literature who represents a woman of a certain age, who doesn’t make sexuality any part of her power, and who gives credit to a generally-overlooked segment of the population, and give it a sexy, youthful, utterly generic “spin?” Here’s the thing about Jane Marple: she’s a character who’s consistently underestimated. That’s her power, as an older woman in society, and the key to her ability to observe unobtrusively. She’s about confounding expectation.
Now, I hope I’m wrong. The Sherlock reboot, after all, was fun TV. Maybe Marple is younger, yes, but still a spinster in the classic sense who has decided to build a life without men in it. Maybe she’s consistently overlooked by those around her, and slyly undermines conventional ideals. Maybe. But I’m not holding my breath.
UPDATE: Jennifer Garner To Star In Disney’s Miss Marple Reboot [Deadline]
